Heading Home for Game 5

The Toronto Marlies are headed home for a winner-take-all Game 5 after suffering a 5-2 loss in Utica on Friday.

Toronto looked poised for a quick start as Colin Greening had a glorious chance in the opening seconds but was stopped by Comets’ netminder Thatcher Demko.

Utica opened the scoring early in the first as Reid Boucher scored from the slot just over a minute into the game.

The Marlies continued to apply the pressure throughout the rest of the opening frame, nearly doubling up the Comets in shots at 12-7 after the first.

The second saw more of the same pressure from Toronto but Utica was again able to capitalize on a turnover and score early as Tanner MacMaster made it a 2-0 game less than three minutes into the middle frame.

Boucher added his second of the night in the final minutes to make it a 3-0 score at the intermission, marking back-to-back games the Marlies were looking to climb out of that hole.

Dmytro Timashov got the Marlies on the board early in the third, connecting on a one-timer from a tough angle in the corner. Trevor Moore and Chris Mueller had the assists on that.

Unfortunately, the Marlies were sent to the penalty kill shortly after and Michael Carcone reinstated the three-goal lead less than two minutes later. Tyler Motte added another in the third.

Pierre Engvall scored a late goal for the Marlies but it wasn’t enough as they lost 5-2 in Utica.

The series now shifts back to Toronto for Game 5 on Sunday at 4:00 PM.

On tonight’s game:
We didn’t get enough quality shots. We gave up more quality than we got ourselves. We carried play though. We spent enough time on their half of the ice but couldn’t get to the real good areas to get the kind of chances that we need to generate in order to be able to threaten to score against a goaltender of this caliber. I didn’t like the chances that we gave up, gave some of their best people really good looks. Obviously, that’s not going help our cause. We know we have another level to get to in this series. Through the four games, including the two at home, we can play better than we have. We have some guys who haven’t really made an impact on the series that we would hope or would expect that they would. But we’ve got full confidence in our group from our leaders all the way down that in a game of this magnitude that’s upcoming that everyone will be at their best where we need them to be.

NEXT GAME:

April 29 vs Utica – 4:00 p.m. ET

Game Preview

For the second time in three nights, the Toronto Marlies have a chance to close out their North Division Semifinals series in Utica when the puck drops on Friday.

Following a 5-2 loss to the Comets on Wednesday, the message for the Marlies was simple. Shake it off and come back with a better effort on Friday.

“We’ve got to regroup and get ourselves together and put together a good road effort on Friday,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said following that game.

Wednesday’s road loss was a bit of a rarity for this Toronto team, who posted the league’s best record away from home in the regular season at 30-5-1-2 for a points percentage of .829%.

The Marlies continue to hold a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series after taking the first two games in Toronto last weekend.

Special teams continue to be a big storyline of the series, as the Marlies had seven power play chances again in Game 3, converting once. Utica also scored on the man advantage last game and are now 3-for-14 on the power play this series.

Colin Greening notched his second goal of the series in Game 3 and is tied for the Marlies lead in scoring with Trevor Moore, Dmytro Timashov, Ben Smith and Martin Marincin, who all have three points so far.

For Utica, Nikolay Goldobin is leading the way with four points in three games.

Puck drop for Game 5 is scheduled for 7:00 PM and fans can watch on Leafs Nation Network as Todd Crocker and Bob McGill will bring the action live from Utica.

Follow us on Twitter for pre- and post-game coverage, as well as live updates from the Adirondack Bank Center.